Automatic gumming system

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an automatic gumming system for automatically gumming an upper surface of a shoe sole or a bottom surface of a shoe body, comprises a conveying device, an data obtaining device, a treating agent applying device, a heating device, and a gumming device. The data obtaining device has an image retrieving member which is provided in a position corresponding to an image retrieving zone for the image retrieving member to scan a gumming surface of a gumming target to generate a gumming data. The treating agent applying device applies a treating agent on the gumming surface according to the gumming data. The heating device is provided in a position corresponding to a heating zone for heating the gumming surface. The gum applying device applies a gum on the gumming surface according to the gumming data, by which the quality and speed of gumming process can be enhanced.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Taiwanese Patent Application No. 102140580, filed Nov. 7, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a gumming system, and more particularly to an automatic gumming system for automatically gumming an upper surface of a shoe sole or a bottom surface of a shoe body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a conventional process of manufacturing shoes, a step of treating agent and applying gum is performed by an operator using a brush or a nozzle to brush or spray a treating agent or a gum on a shoe, and then the operator moves the shoe into a heater for heating.

However, in a manual treating agent applying step or gum applying step, the performing effect is inconsistent. For example, the treating agent and the gum that is brushed or sprayed on a shoe may not be applied uniformly, and sometimes the treating agent or the gum is overly applied or sometimes insufficiently applied, to thus the treating agent and the gum is difficult. Further, the conventional process of manufacturing shoes is a labor-intensive process, so that it needs at least four operators for processing steps including a treating agent applying step, a heating step, a gum applying step, and a reheating step.

Therefore, a conventional shoes factory must change their producing method to improve the unstable quality as happened in a manual operation, to save the labor costs and to enhance the production efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide an automatic gumming system to overcome the above drawbacks.

An aspect of the present invention is to provide an automatic gumming system for gumming a gumming target which is either an upper surface of a shoe sole or a bottom surface of a shoe body, the automatic gumming system comprising: a conveying device for conveying the gumming target along a rotary conveying path that is a path passing through an image retrieving zone, an agent treating zone, a gumming zone, a heating zone, an inputting zone, and an outputting zone, wherein the gumming target is delivered to the conveying device from the inputting zone and transported from the outputting zone; an data obtaining device having an image retrieving member that is provided in a position corresponding to the image retrieving zone for optically scanning a gumming surface of the gumming target to generate a gumming data of the gumming surface; a treating agent applying device being provided in a position corresponding to the agent treating zone and being coupled to the data obtaining device, wherein a treating agent is applied on the gumming surface of the gumming target according to the gumming data; a heating device, being provided in a position corresponding to the heating zone, for heating the gumming surface of the gumming target; and a gumming device being provided in a position corresponding to the gumming zone and being coupled to the data obtaining device, wherein a gum is applied on the gumming surface of the gumming target according to the gumming data.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the rotary conveying path is a path passing through the inputting zone, the image retrieving zone, the agent treating zone, the heating zone, the gumming zone, and the outputting zone respectively in sequence.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the conveying device has a position fixing member for fixing the gumming target to a positioned location.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the heating device includes an input guiding member, a heater, and an output guiding member, the input guiding member is for guiding the gumming target from the rotary conveying path to the heater, and the output guiding member is for guiding the gumming target from the heater to the rotary conveying path.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the data obtaining device includes an analyzing member that analyzes the gumming data in accordance with an optical image which is obtained by the optical scanning, wherein the gumming data includes a spraying/wiping path and a spraying/wiping amount.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the treating agent applying device has an agent nozzle moving member and an agent nozzle member which is disposed on the agent nozzle moving member, the agent nozzle moving member moves along the spraying/wiping path according to the gumming data so that the agent nozzle member applies the treating agent on the gumming surface; and the gumming device has a gum nozzle moving member and a gum nozzle member which is disposed on the gum nozzle moving member, the gum nozzle moving member moves along the spraying/wiping path according to the gumming data so that the gum nozzle member applies the gum on the gumming surface.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the data obtaining device further includes a covering member for coving the gumming target.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the inputting zone and the outputting zone are overlapped, near or adjacent to each other on the rotary conveying path.

According to an aspect of the present invention, it further includes an auxiliary gumming device that is provided in a position corresponding to an auxiliary gumming zone to apply a gum on an edge portion of the gum target, wherein the auxiliary gumming device includes a spraying member and a rolling member.

According to an aspect of the present invention, it further includes a reheating device that is connected to the outputting zone through an outputting path for reheating the gumming surface of the gum target.

The automatic gumming system of the present invention has advantages as follows. The applied amount of the treating agent and the gum in each brush or spray operation is constant. Not only the amount can be effectively controlled, but also the quality of gumming operation can be improved. Further, by means of the conveying device conveys the gumming target to each processing zone respectively in sequence to automatically gum a shoe, the number of the operators become less to thus save the labor costs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a system schematic illustrating an automatic gumming system in the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a system block diagram illustrating an automatic gumming system in the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic exploded view illustrating a shoe in the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a data obtaining device in the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view illustrating a data obtaining device in the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view illustrating a treating agent applying device in the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view illustrating a gumming device in the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view illustrating an auxiliary gumming device in the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic top view illustrating an auxiliary gumming device in the first embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is schematic diagram of a conveying path illustrating an automatic gumming system in the second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10. The present invention, however, should not be construed as limiting to the embodiment. These embodiments should be considered as only examples of the present invention.

As referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 2, according the first embodiment of the present invention, an automatic gumming system 100 includes: a conveying device 1, a data obtaining device 2, a treating agent applying device 3, a heating device 4, and a gumming device 5.

As referring to FIG. 1, the conveying device 1 has a rotary conveying path 11 for conveying a gumming target A, and the conveying device 1 has a position fixing member 12 for fixing the gumming target A to a positioned location. As referring to FIG. 3, a shoe that is to be gummed includes a shoe body with an upper portion A1, a shoe body with a bottom surface A2, and a shoe sole A3. In the present invention, the gumming target is either a bottom surface of the shoe body A2 or an upper surface of the shoe sole A3. In the embodiment, the conveying device 1 is a rotary conveyor, but in other embodiment, the conveying device can be a device that is able to provide a rotary conveying path, such as a rotary conveying tray and so on. In the embodiment, the position fixing member 12 has two holding arms for holding the gumming target A and moving the gumming target A to a positioned location of the conveying device 1. In other embodiment, there may be more than two position fixing members to fix the gumming target, and the position fixing member may be a jig that can fix the gumming target to a positioned location. The rotary conveying path 11 is a path passing through an image retrieving zone 20, an agent treating zone 30, a gumming zone 50, a heating zone 40, an inputting zone 101, and an outputting zone 102. In the embodiment, preferably, the rotary conveying path 11 is a path passing through the inputting zone 101, the image retrieving zone 20, the agent treating zone 30, the heating zone 40, the gumming zone 50, and the outputting zone 102 respectively in sequence to be in correspondence with the gumming steps to provide higher production efficiency. The gumming target A is delivered to the conveying device 1 from the inputting zone 101 to the outputting zone 102, and be transported to the outputting zone 102. Further, because the position fixing member 12 of the conveying device 1 fixes the gumming target A to a positioned location, the conveying device 1 is able to accurately convey the gumming target A to each processing zone to process the gumming target A.

As referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the data obtaining device 2 has an image retrieving member 21, an analyzing member 22, a supporting arm 23, and a covering member 24. The image retrieving member 21 is provided in a position corresponding to the image retrieving zone 20 for optically scanning a gumming surface A0 of the gumming target A to generate a gumming data I of the gumming target A. In the embodiment, the image retrieving member 21 is a charge-coupled device (CCD), and is supported by the supporting arm 23 to illuminate the image retrieving zone 20. The covering member 24 is an opaque mask cloth. When the gumming target A is conveyed to the image retrieving zone 20 by the conveying device 1, the covering member 24 covers the gumming target A to reduce an interference of external light sources so as to improve a quality of an retrieved image. Preferably, the covering member 24 is provided with a white light source thereof to illuminate the gumming target A with several angles (not shown in the figures). Moreover, the gumming target A is provided with a low reflective pad 25 that has a complementary color of the gumming target A thereunder, so that the effect of the retrieved image is better. The image retrieving member 21 optically scans the gumming surface A0 and by which an optical image of the gumming surface A0 is obtained. The analyzing member 22 analyzes the optical image to obtained a gumming data I, wherein the gumming data I includes a spraying/wiping path and a spraying/wiping amount. The spraying/wiping path is a path that uniformly distributed over the gumming surface A0, or is a path that corresponds to a contour line, an internal retracting line, or an outward extending line of the gumming surface A0 for the subsequent processing steps to apply. Further, the spraying/wiping path and the spraying/wiping amount are determined according to the gumming surfaces of various types of shoes.

As referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, the treating agent applying device 3 is provided in a position corresponding to the agent treating zone 30 and is coupled to the data obtaining device 2, wherein a treating agent is applied on the gumming surface A0 of the gumming target A according to the gumming data I. Specifically, the treating agent applying device 3 has an agent nozzle moving member 31 and an agent nozzle member 32 disposed on the agent nozzle moving member 31. In the embodiment, the agent nozzle moving member 31 is a robot arm which is able to move horizontally along an X-axis or a Y-axis. Of course, the invention is not limited to this, and the treating agent applying device can employ a gum brushing operation or a gum dispensing operation, and a Z-axis movement can be added to the moving member depends on the condition. For example, when the treating agent applying device is provided with a brushing member to brush the treating agent onto the gumming target, the moving member of the treating agent applying device can be installed with a elastic spring that stretches and retracts along a Z-axis, so that the brush member can move up and down in accordance with an undulating surface of the gumming target. The treating agent applying device 3 receives the gumming data I. When the conveying device 1 conveys the gumming target A to the agent treating zone 30, the agent nozzle moving member 31 moves along the spraying/wiping path according to the gumming data I to have the agent nozzle member 32 applies the treating agent on the gumming surface A0. Further, the amount of the treating agent sprayed and wiped by the agent nozzle member 32 is determined in accordance with the spraying/wiping amount in the gumming data I. Therefore, the treating agent applying device 3 can uniformly apply the treating agent onto the gumming surface A0, and the amount in each spraying/wiping operation is constant, so that the cost of the gum and the treating agent can be effectively controlled, and the production quality and the production efficiency can be improved. Moreover, the spraying/wiping path and the spraying/wiping amount can be configured according to the data of different shoes, by which the practicality of the automatic gumming system of the present invention can be improved. Besides, the data obtaining device 2 and the treating agent applying device 3 are provided with an effect of rapid processing, so that each gumming target A is able to be fully processed with above steps in a short time, and by means of applying treating agent and gum according to the gumming data I obtained by the data obtaining device 2, the present invention is able to accurately apply a treating agent on shoes that have different shapes or different sizes according to their shape or size.

As referring to FIG. 1, the heating device 4 is provided in a position corresponding to the heating zone 40 for heating the gumming surface A0 of the gumming target A. Specifically, the heating device 4 includes an input guiding member 41, a heater 42, and an output guiding member 43. The input guiding member 41 is for guiding the gumming target A from the rotary conveying path 11 to the heater 42, and the output guiding member 43 is for guiding the gumming target A from the heater 42 to the rotary conveying path 11. In the embodiment, the input guiding member 41 and the output guiding member 43 are robot arms. When the conveying device 1 conveys the gumming target A to the heating zone 40, the input guiding member 41 moves the gumming target A to the heater 42 for heating, and thereafter, the output guiding member 43 moves the gumming target A back to the conveying path 11. Of course, the present invention is not limited to this, and the input guiding member and the output guiding member can be a bypass guiding conveyer.

As referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 7, the gumming device 5 is provided in a position corresponding to the gumming zone 50 and is coupled to the data obtaining device 2, wherein the gumming device 5 applies a gum onto the gumming surface A0 of the gumming target A according to the gumming data I. Specifically, the gumming device 5 has a gum nozzle moving member 51 and a gum nozzle member 52 that disposed on the gum nozzle moving member 51. The operating manner and principle of the gumming device 5 are the same as the treating agent applying device 3, except it sprays/wipes a gum instead of a treating agent, therefore the detail description thereof will be omitted herein. Besides, when the gumming targets have different sizes or different shapes, the conveying device 1 can determine a fixing reference point of the gumming target to the positioned location, such as a toe of the shoe sole in this embodiment, and have the conveying device 1 conveys the gumming target to each processing zone and position the gumming target in accordance with the reference point. Therefore, after the data obtaining device 2 obtains the spraying/wiping path, the treating agent applying device 3 or the gumming device 5 can be positioned according the reference point and applies a treat agent or a gum according to the spraying/wiping path, such that the each position for applying a treating agent or a gum can be ensured that they are correct, and there won't be deviation due to the position difference in the gumming targets.

As referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the automatic gumming system 100 further includes an auxiliary gumming device 6 that is provided in a position corresponding to an auxiliary gumming zone 60 to apply a gum on an edge portion A01 of the gum target A. As Referring to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the auxiliary gumming device 6 includes a spraying member 61 and a rolling member 62. The rolling member 62 is a rolling ball which rolls along the spraying/wiping path, and the spraying member 61 dispenses a gum above the rolling member 62. In the embodiment, the rolling member 62 applies a gum on the edge portion A01 such as a side portion of the shoe sole of the gum target A along an internal retracting line of the spraying/wiping path, wherein the spraying member 61 and the rolling member 62 can be controlled by a robot arm (not shown in the figures). In the embodiment, the auxiliary gumming zone 60 is located in a subsequent position of the gumming zone 50 that is between the gumming zone 50 and the outputting zone 102. Of course, the present invention is not limited to this, the position of the auxiliary gumming zone and the auxiliary gumming device can be replaced by the gumming zone and the gumming device.

As referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the automatic gumming system 100 further includes a reheating device 7 that is connected to the outputting zone 102 through an outputting path 71 for reheating the gumming surface A0 of the gum target A. In the embodiment, an operator U moves the gumming target A along the outputting path 71.

As referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the automatic gumming system 100 further includes a controlling device 8. In the embodiment, the controlling device 8 is a computer having a touch screen for operation. By operating the controlling device 8, each device can be monitored and controlled, for example: adjusting the speed of the conveying device 1, modifying the spraying/wiping path or the spraying/wiping amount of the treating agent applying device 3 or the gumming device 5, and adjusting the heating time or heating temperature of the heating device 4 or the reheating device 7 and so on. Therefore, by means of monitoring the controlling device 8, the operator U can control all of the gumming steps at once, and thus the labor costs can be saved and the production efficiency is improved. Besides, in other embodiment, the analyzing member of the data obtaining device can be replaced by the controlling device for analyzing data.

As referring to FIG. 1, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the inputting zone 101 and the outputting zone 102 of the automatic gumming system 100 is overlapped or adjacent to each other on the rotary conveying path 11. In other words, after the gumming target A is conveyed through each device and is processed, the gumming target A is returned to the original position. Therefore, it only requires one operator U to stand in front of the inputting zone 101 and the outputting zone 102 to move the gumming target A that is to be gummed to the inputting zone 101. Then, after the gumming target A is processed in each process steps, the operator U picks up the gumming target A which is gummed from the outputting zone 102, and moves the gumming target A which is gummed to the reheating device 7 along the outputting path 71 for reheating and the other subsequent process. In this way, each device of the automatic gumming system of the present invention can provide automatic gumming steps and saves the labor costs.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to this, and it even may not require any operator. As referring to FIG. 10, according to a second embodiment of the present invention, the rotary conveying path 11 a of the conveying device 1 a is in a shape of Ω in which the inputting zone 101 a is connected to a processing zone of the next processing step. The inputting zone 101 a and the outputting zone 102 a is near to each other, so that the operator just stands in front of the inputting zone 101 a and the outputting zone 102 a to check the gumming quality or control each gumming step, and thereby the workload of the operator U can be reduced.

The above description should be considered as only the discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, a person with an ordinary skilled in the art may make various modifications to the present invention based on the appended claims and the above descriptions. Those modifications still fall within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An automatic gumming system for gumming a gumming target which is either an upper surface of a shoe sole or a bottom surface of a shoe body, the automatic gumming system comprising: a conveying device for conveying the gumming target along a rotary conveying path that is a path passing through an image retrieving zone, an agent treating zone, a gumming zone, a heating zone, an inputting zone, and an outputting zone, wherein the gumming target is delivered by the conveying device from the inputting zone to the outputting zone; an data obtaining device having an image retrieving member that is provided in a position corresponding to the image retrieving zone for optically scanning a gumming surface of the gumming target to generate a gumming data of the gumming surface; a treating agent applying device being provided in a position corresponding to the agent treating zone and being coupled to the data obtaining device, wherein a treating agent is applied on the gumming surface of the gumming target according to the gumming data; a heating device, being provided in a position corresponding to the heating zone, for heating the gumming surface of the gumming target; and a gumming device being provided in a position corresponding to the gumming zone and being coupled to the data obtaining device, wherein a gum is applied on the gumming surface of the gumming target according to the gumming data.
 2. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotary conveying path is a path passing through the inputting zone, the image retrieving zone, the agent treating zone, the heating zone, the gumming zone, and the outputting zone respectively in sequence.
 3. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conveying device has a position fixing member for fixing the gumming target to a positioned location.
 4. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heating device includes an input guiding member, a heater, and an output guiding member, the input guiding member is for guiding the gumming target from the rotary conveying path to the heater, and the output guiding member is for guiding the gumming target from the heater to the rotary conveying path.
 5. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data obtaining device includes an analyzing member that analyzes the gumming data in accordance with an optical image which is obtained by the optical scanning, wherein the gumming data includes a spraying/wiping path and a spraying/wiping amount.
 6. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the treating agent applying device has an agent nozzle moving member and an agent nozzle member which is disposed on the agent nozzle moving member, the agent nozzle moving member moves along the spraying/wiping path according to the gumming data so that the agent nozzle member applies the treating agent on the gumming surface; and the gumming device has a gum nozzle moving member and a gum nozzle member which is disposed on the gum nozzle moving member, the gum nozzle moving member moves along the spraying/wiping path according to the gumming data so that the gum nozzle member applies the gum on the gumming surface.
 7. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the data obtaining device further includes a covering member for coving the gumming target.
 8. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inputting zone and the outputting zone are overlapped, near or adjacent to each other on the rotary conveying path.
 9. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 1, further including an auxiliary gumming device that is provided in a position corresponding to an auxiliary gumming zone to apply a gum on an edge portion of the gum target, wherein the auxiliary gumming device includes a spraying member and a rolling member.
 10. The automatic gumming system as claimed in claim 1, further including a reheating device that is connected to the outputting zone through an outputting path for reheating the gumming surface of the gum target. 